


natural

by evanlinge



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Third Shinobi War, yet another minato fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 06:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15944063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evanlinge/pseuds/evanlinge
Summary: Shikaku watches Minato, and Minato becomes the war.(Jiraiya would be so proud)





	natural

Somewhere, sometime, in a camp between Kumo and the end of the world, Minato says, “What do you know about soul seals?”

 

There are an infinite number of ways this conversation could go and Shikaku dreads every single one of them. He wonders if Jiraiya knew what he was doing while he was busy nurturing all of Minato’s most hideous impulses. (he thinks, this is the worst kind of irony)

 

He says, “I know what you know.”

 

* * *

 

Little by little, Minato falls in love with the war. Slow and sweet, it snakes beneath his skin, sinks its teeth deeper with every fallen enemy, with every battlefield, slick and bloody and best of all, quiet. He falls a little in love with that feeling, when he’s alone with a kunai in hand and the dead at his feet and he can finally, finally, _stop_.

 

War adores a victor, and to Konoha, Minato is that above all else.

 

Mostly, throughout, Minato kills, and kills, and does his level best to not lose his mind. Every conflict is a bloodbath, every skirmish a massacre, because Minato isn’t allowed to fail. He tells himself that he’s learning to like it, because it’s better than going insane. (because if he slips, even for a moment, he’ll have to kill _everyone_ )

 

Sometime in-between the war and it’s bitter finale Minato’s comrades begin to step lightly about him; Shikaku’s watchful gaze burns at his back, as if to confirm that everyone knows he’s always a hair trigger away from gratuitous violence. He isn’t. Minato is steady – indefatigable, whatever madness therein locked safely away until called upon. (and it will be called upon)

 

The intelligence unit is of course, hard at work, renaming this, redacting that, and blacking out Minato’s file in layers of ink. Nevertheless, there are some things that must remain unwritten. “It’s better for morale,” the higher-ups say, unflinching. Shikaku stays silent. He isn’t an idiot – some things are better left unsaid.

 

To Iwa, Minato is Damocles’ sword made flesh. (and perhaps, not only to Iwa)

 

* * *

 

In Minato’s dreams he sits among a sea of hands, fingers spread and palms upturned like lily pads – the world itself surrenders.

 

“You’re a natural,” Jiraiya says.

 

* * *

 

When Minato is smaller, bright-eyed, and so very ambitious, his teachers tell him: if you want to be great, start by being terrible. Minato never takes this advice to heart, and he ends up being both. Jiraiya thinks that this is a good thing. Minato is the student who will never lose, who Jiraiya will never have to lose. (he’s wrong on both counts)

 

For his part, Minato knows that the day he loses is going to be catastrophic. It’s going to be glorious. (it’s going to be the climax of his life)

 

* * *

 

Somewhere, sometime, on a battlefield between Iwa and the end of the world, Minato is knee-deep in gore when he realises that he must have already lost – something. That he’s already been cracked open and some part of him has gone missing underneath all that blood. Whatever it is, he reasons that he’ll get it back, someday. (and he does: five years later the Shinigami slams that missing piece of him right back where it belongs, right before it swallows him whole. This time, the irony is sweeter than ever)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from Imagine Dragons' song 'Natural'
> 
> sort of a sequel to star scatter


End file.
